Blawg? No marketing company would recommend one

Is there any legal marketing, website development or public relations company that would recommend that a law firm client use a ‘blawg,’ as a opposed to a blog, to further enhance the lawyer client’s reputation as a reliable and trusted authority?

If so, why? And if not, why are lawyers and website development companies using the term ‘ blawg’ in cases where this law blog is going to be used to market the lawyer and law firm.

Now that Justia and Blawg.com have come out with legal blog aggregators, both using the term ‘blawg,’ we’ve got more lawyers running around asking what a ‘blawg’ is and how that compares with a blog? And if ‘blawgs’ get indexed by search engines like blogs. Believe me, I get the questions.

I’m sure the public is only more confused by the term ‘blawg.’ And those who are not, just dismiss it as lawyers and their special legalese used by lawyers to set themselves apart from average folks. We’ve been working at giving our profession a bad reputation for decades. Is using the term ‘blawg’ part of the continuing plan?

I practiced for 17 years. One thing I hated was lawyer parties where lawyers talked about things lawyers thought were ‘cute and funny.’ Couldn’t get my spouse to go as she would be bored to death – lawyers talking legalese isn’t that entertaining. I put the term ‘blawg’ into this lawyer ‘cute and funny’ category.

LexBlog uses the term ‘blawg’ when referencing items for the search engines. That way lawyers confused about law blogs versus ‘blawg’s can find us. I’ll then advise that if they are looking to use a blog to reach a target audience of prospective clients and those who influence those prospective clients, they table the ‘cute and funny’ and go with a blog.

I’ve been told to lighten up on this issue. Reason I don’t is that I’d like to see an improved image for our legal profession. I also look at the dollars and time being spent on lawyer marketing as deserving a return on investment.